Romania down two places in worldwide press freedom index

Romania ranks 52nd in a worldwide freedom of the press ranking published by Reporters sans Frontières organization, down two places on last year. Romania's ranking is similar to the Maldive Islands' but better than the Republic of Moldova's, Croatia's or Greece's. Northern European states ranks high in the freedom of the press top, with Finland, Iceland, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland sharing the first place. They were followed by Australia, New Zealand, Estonia, Ireland and Denmark. Out of the 27 Eu member states, 13 ranks in the first 20 places. Bulgaria and Greece landed on the 70th place, US, on the 20th, Russia, on the 140th and China on the 171st position. Read more about the index here. The Romanian media market is divided among larger media companies, most of which local (Realitatea Media, Intact) and owned by the so called media moguls, and fewer and fewer independent media companies. The number of employed journalists in the country has decreased due to the lack of funding for media products after the fall of the advertising market, while currently employed journalists saw their salaries cut during the last year. editor@romania-insider.com